This application claims the priority of German application 196 35 536.2, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a removable roof structure for an open automobile, the structure having a dimensionally stable roof part and a dimensionally stable rear part. The roof structure is lowerable into a storage area behind the front seats of the passenger compartment, with the rear part having a rear window as well as two C-pillar sections.
The Mercedes-Benz SLK Roadster provides a convertible automobile with a two-part hard top, consisting of a roof part and a rear part. The roof part and the rear part are connected with one another in a pivotably movable fashion. The entire roof structure in the form of a hard top is foldable and lowerable into a storage area behind the passenger compartment. The C-pillar sections and rear window of the roof structure are integrated in the rear. The roof structure formed by the two-part hard top is thus located either in its closed functional position or in its open resting position, in which the hard top is folded and lowered in the storage area.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved roof structure of a convertible automobile which ensures a greater number of different opening states for the passenger compartment.
This object has been achieved according to the present invention by releasably connecting the roof part and the rear part with one another in the vicinity of their common joining edges by a latching device. Independent drive mechanisms are provided for both the roof part and the rear part, with both drive mechanisms being controllable independently of one another.
The separate release of the rear part from the roof part has the advantage of making possible movement of the rear part into its lowered resting position independently of the roof part, thus creating a landaulet while the roof part is still closed. By additionally lowering the roof part, a completely open convertible can be created. Depending on the configuration of the drive mechanisms, a "Targa roof" can be achieved with the concept according to the present invention, in which the rear part remains in its closed functional position and only the roof part, conceivably as a result of a brief raising of the rear part, is lowered into the storage area.
In one advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the drive mechanism for the rear part has lever kinematics for rotating the rear part into a resting position and lowering the rear part in which the rear window of the rear part is at the bottom and the C-pillar sections of the rear part are aligned so that they project upward. As a result, in its lowered resting position, the rear part has the shape of a receiving shell within which the roof part can be accommodated with economy of space.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the drive mechanism for the roof part has a parallelogram linkage with which the roof part can be lowered onto the rear part between the C-pillar sections. The provision of a parallelogram linkage constitutes a simple yet functionally reliable configuration.